Re-designing commons in Italy

Abstract

The paper gives a critical account of the recent Italian debate on Commons concentrating on some theoretical problems, with reference to two different components: the economic research on the Commons, the juridical research on the property nature of Commons. It then puts them in parallel with the social demands arisen, articulated around the buzzword “Commons”. The mutual relationship among these components is analysed, stressing the generative aspects of the encounter between scholarship on one hand and the social, discursive use of the Commons concept on the other hand. Finally a research agenda based on the results of such analysis is proposed in order to re-compose the mentioned duality and partially overcome the difficulties that today harness the Italian debate on the Commons and its possible applications in urban planning.